Luna and Breeze
by imadoki45
Summary: Follow the hectic life of a young cat named Luna, who has the ability to dream the events that are going to happen the next day. A little boring at first, but it gets better, trust me.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

The kit was small, smaller than its siblings. It crept closer to its mother, crying softly for milk. The mother nosed the tiny she-cat closer to her warm belly. As the kitten began to suck, the mother started thinking about names for her kittens. The strongest of all was a brown tabby tom, so she would name him after their father, Leaf.

The next kit was another tabby, and looked almost identical to her brother, Leaf. The mother thought that because her nose was bright red, she would call her Rose. Leaf snuggled closer to Rose, and their mother knew instantly that the pair would be inseparable.

Finally, there was the last kit. Star, their mother, thought for a long time about the name for this pretty pale white kitten. Though the kit was the smallest, she was the most beautiful of the three. Star stifled a laugh as the kit mewled with frustration when Leaf blindly pushed her out of the way to get to Star's belly.

A shaft of moonlight fell down upon the tiny kitten and, much to Star's surprise; she began to glow, her white fur reflecting the moon's bright light. Star's eyes filled with admiration as she realized that this tiny kitten was more beautiful than any cat she had ever seen. The mother gazed up at the moon, still thinking about what to name this kitten. The answer came to her easily. Star bent over to give her kit a long and loving lick on the head.

"Luna," Star whispered lovingly. "My beautiful Luna. You will love another cat, and you will have wonderful kits to call your own in time."

Star settled down to sleep, tired after kitting for so long. Her kits crawled closer to her, still trying to suckle some milk. Star sighed with content. Three kits, Leaf, Rose, and Luna. Destined for greatness.

CHAPTER ONE

A breeze rustled the pumpkin leaves in the garden as Luna crept through it. She was playing hide and seek with Leaf and Rose. Luna tasted the air and could just barely pick up Rose's scent. Luna padded in that direction and as she turned a corner, she crashed straight into Leaf.

"Hey, watch it!" he yowled as he crashed to the ground. Luna stood and shook the dust from her fur. "Sorry." Luna turned a pebble over on the ground.

"I should hope so!" Leaf spat, and bowled Luna over angrily.

After Luna opened her eyes for the first time after being born, she began to notice that Leaf had quite a temper. He snapped at anyone who tried to comfort him, or talk to him, for that matter. The only cat he was gentle with was Rose. As Star had guessed, the pair was inseparable. This made Luna feel slightly left out, but she was able to confide with her mother, and that brought them closer than ever.

Luna yowled with pain as Leaf clawed her with tiny sharp claws. Luna broke free and ran blindly towards home. Star had been dozing on the porch when Luna came crashing out of the garden. "Mommy!" Luna cried. "Mommy, Leaf hurt me!" Star sighed and padded over to Luna and sat down.

"Come here, little one. What happened this time?"

Luna crept forward and whimpered. "We were playing hide and seek, and I crashed into Leaf, and then he attacked me!" Star sighed again. Luna tended to exaggerate a lot, and she could never tell if she was lying or not.

While Luna was talking, Leaf had come out of the garden with Rose. "Tattling again, Luna?" Leaf snarled.

"Calm down, Leaf," Rose said, slowly drawing one paw over her ear. "It was an accident." Leaf huffed as he sat down, but he wouldn't defy Rose.

Star tried not to laugh at the three of them. Rose was always trying to get Leaf to calm down, and she usually succeeded, since Leaf would never refuse her. Luna was always making a big deal out of things, and she was very close to Star.

Rose padded forward and gave Luna a lick on the shoulder. "Come on, Luna. I'll be the seeker this time." Luna sniffled and followed Rose and Leaf back into the garden to play some more.

"Ready, set, HIDE!" Leaf yowled as broke away from Luna and Rose and ran. Luna squeaked with surprise and dashed in the other direction.

"I'm gonna get you both!" Rose cried.

"Good luck," Luna meowed over her shoulder.

Luna raced forwards as fast as she possibly could, and, once she had found the perfect hiding place, she screeched to a halt. Luna pulled herself under a low bush and crouched there. She was smug with happiness, knowing that she had found the best hiding spot of all.

After a little while, Luna heard Rose crashing around the garden, searching for her siblings. Luna tried pulling herself deeper into the bush, to hide better, but she stopped short as something pricked her hard in the back.

The little kitten stifled a squeak of pain and attempted to turn to see what the sharp thing was. But more little sharp things poked her, on all sides this time.

Luna soon realized that she had hidden in a rose bush. She twisted, trying to get out; but this only made her more entangled.

"No! Help! Star!" Luna yowled desperately, but no one was around to hear her. Panic filled her, making it difficult to think, let alone breathe. Thorns became deeply embedded in Luna's fur, and tiny beads of blood were forming on her skin where Luna had managed to rip thorns out.

Just when Luna was beginning to lose all hope that she would never be found, that she would die here, stuck under a rose bush, someone began clawing their way under the bush.

"Hang on, Luna."

Luna couldn't tell whose voice it was, but it didn't matter. As long as they could get her out.

The cat (whoever it was) finally reached Luna and untangled her easily from the thorns and nudged her out into sunlight. Luna blinked under the harsh light, and stumbled to her paws, thorns sticking out of her every which way. She faced her rescuer, and let out a squeak of shock.

"It's okay, Luna," Leaf murmured affectionately. "I've got you. You're safe now."

"_Honestly _I don't know how the pair of you managed to get so many thorns stuck in your fur."

Luna winced as Star pulled another thorn out of her fur as her mother spoke. After Leaf had pulled her out, he had helped Luna back to the human's home, where they all lived. They were now all on the porch, and Star was attempting to get every single thorn off of Leaf and Luna.

"I wish that I could have been there too," Rose complained loudly. "It would have been an adventure."

"Oh, and I suppose you would like to have a thousand thorns stuck in you as well?" Leaf snapped.

Luna stared. This had been the first time Leaf had ever snapped at Rose since the day of their birth. But Rose didn't seem to mind, she was too busy complaining.

"Well yes, but it would have been _fun_."

Finally, after an hour of yelps and complaints, Star had pulled out all of the thorns successfully. "There," Star sighed, finally satisfied. She turned to Luna. "Now, Luna, I hope you've learned your lesson. No more hiding in rose bushes, you hear?"

Luna ducked her head with embarrassment. "Yes, Mama. I won't, I promise."

Star nodded. "Good." Playfulness sparkled in her eyes as she spoke again. "Now get off the porch so I can get some sleep."

The three kits purred as they leapt away from the human's house. They returned to the edge of the garden.

"Okay so what do you want to play now?" Rose asked excitedly.

Luna curled up her tail as she thought about a good game to play. They could always play hide and seek again, but Luna was in no mood to get stuck again. Besides, her siblings were probably bored of that by now.

No, they would have to think of a new game to play. The idea jumped out a Luna as though it had been waiting for the perfect chance to pounce.

"I know!" Luna meowed. "Let's go hunting!"

Leaf and Rose both bounced excitedly. They had always dreamed of catching mice in the forest, getting enough food for their mother and themselves.

"Oh yes!" Leaf wiggled with happiness. "I'd love to sink my claws into a tasty vole or two."

"Yeah, right," Rose teased. "As if you would ever catch anything."

Leaf stalked forward, and with a growl, he leapt. "You're one to talk!"

Luna watched her littermates scuffle on the ground, but she didn't join in. She felt stupid after getting stuck in the rosebush, and wanted to make it up to both Star and Leaf. And she was going to do that by catching the biggest piece of prey in the forest.

"I'm going to catch a rabbit!" she declared with authority.

The other two kittens stared at her. No prey had been caught by them at all, let alone a rabbit. Star had told them about the rabbits, so they knew what the creatures looked like, even though they had never seen one before.

"Are you crazy?" Rose smirked. "If anyone's going to catch a rabbit, it would definitely be me."

"No, it would be me!" Leaf cried, refusing to be left out.

"No way! _I'll _get the rabbit, _you _get the vole."

"Not a chance, slowpoke!"

"I'll show you slow!"

Rose raced off deep into the woods as soon as she had finished speaking. Luna blinked. Maybe Rose and Leaf weren't close as she'd thought. They were certainly quarreling a lot more than usual.

Luna scrambled to follow her sister. No matter what her siblings said, _she _was going to get that rabbit first, and make her mama proud.

She didn't check to see if Leaf had followed them, but Luna knew he would. Leaf hated to be outdone by his sisters.

Racing through the woods, Luna truly felt like her mama. She was going to catch that rabbit, no matter what. Luna skidded to a stop and tasted the air. A thousand scents jumped out at her, and Luna tried to single out a rabbit, but there was nothing. She would have to look somewhere else.

Luna took off in a different direction and tried to smell something while she ran. This proved too difficult, so Luna stopped to scent the air. The smells were mixed and confusing, so Luna wandered around, her nose practically pressed against the ground.

After a few minutes of sniffing around, Luna had to admit that she had found nothing. Frustrated, she swiped her tiny claws against a large oak tree. Startled by the movement, a squirrel shot out of the tree and raced towards another.

Luna leapt up instantly and dashed after it. She felt like her paws were barely hitting the ground as Luna flew after the squirrel on wings. She _was _going to catch that squirrel. She had to. Leaf and Rose would never look at her the same if she did.

Luna wanted to jump straight into the air with pure joy when she realized she was gaining on the furry animal. Star would be so proud of her!

Suddenly, the squirrel veered off track and scrambled up a different tree.

Luna let out a yowl of surprise as she crashed into an oak tree. The white kit wandered around, dazed, as she tried to get her senses back together. Star's calls pushed her back to the waking world.

"Rose! Luna! Leaf! Time to come in." Her mother's voice could have been heard from miles around. Now that Luna was thinking about it, she noticed that it was getting dark.

Luna flattened her tiny ears with disappointment as she headed towards home. Just when she was about to catch that squirrel, too. After she got it to come down from the tree, that is.

Later, the small family of cats were reunited at the Tallcreature's house, and Luna was telling them all about her near catch with the squirrel.

"And right when I had my claws inches from it's tail, it raced up a tree so fast even _Mommy _couldn't have caught it," Luna exaggerated, changing the story just a bit.

Rose yawned, looking bored. "Yeah right, Luna, and I almost brought down a human."

"It's true!" Luna cried, outraged that they didn't believe her. "I really did almost catch a squirrel!"

"Whatever. I had just caught a whiff of rabbit when Mama called us in," Leaf grumbled. "You called us in early, didn't you, Mommy?"

Star chuckled. "Maybe, maybe not. Anyways, it's time for bed. Off you go."

Still upset, Luna wandered over to the bed that the humans always left for them. She settled inside, tucking her little tail close to her. Sometimes Leaf would start clawing things in his sleep, and her tail had taken enough damage from the rose bush.

Rose and Leaf crawled in too, tired from their unusually long day. The three kittens curled up together for warmth in the basket. Star would join them when she felt tired enough.

Luna closed her shining blue eyes. Tomorrow was another adventure, just waiting for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Days passed, falling into weeks. Luna and her littermates grew in size, and cleverness. Luna and Rose liked to play tricks on Leaf, but then the tomcat would always strike back on his own.

Star would pretend to get annoyed with them when they were messing around, but secretly, she was enjoying their playfulness. The young mother was truly proud of her kits, and couldn't have wished for better ones.

Now, Star was sitting, watching her litter scuffle on the porch. The sun was setting, the afternoon taking its leave.

Leaf pounced on top of Rose, gnawing on her brown ear.

Rose let out a yowl and quickly rolled onto her back, squashing Leaf flat against the wooden boards of the porch. Luna crept forward and bit down on Rose's tail. The she-cat flew off of her brother and crashed down on Luna, pounding her with her paws, claws sheathed. Leaf leapt on top of the both of them, and then they all went rolling around the porch, a tight ball of fluffy fur and bright eyes.

When they finally broke apart, it was hard for Luna to catch her breath. They had played like this for a few weeks now, always at the same time of day. As she licked a fresh bruise, Rose padded over to Leaf, who was trying not to make it noticeable that there was a splinter in his ear that was causing him great pain.

"Here, I'll help," Rose murmured softly, leaning down to clench her sharp teeth on the light brown spike. Leaf squeezed his eyes shut before the brief amount of extra pain. Although Luna would have been wailing aloud at this point, Leaf endured it without a sound. Rose licked at the wound left from the splinter, and Leaf let out a warm purr.

"Thanks, Rose," he said. "It must have come from the boards when we were rolling around."

Star gazed down upon her kits with deep, glowing pride. They were so tough, and yet so willing to help each other out. Their father would have been so proud of them.

"What're you thinking about, Mama?" Star looked down to see Luna staring at her with bright, curious eyes.

"I was just thinking about how proud you're father would have been of you," Star murmured, purring as she stroked her smallest kit with her tail. "And how proud _I _am of you." Luna purred as well, and leaned against her mother.

"Well, _I'm _going to make my father extra proud, and the rest of you can just watch me," Leaf meowed boldly, puffing out his chest.

"Ha, fat chance!" Rose growled playfully. "You can't even get a splinter out by yourself!"

With a yowl, Leaf leapt on top of his sibling, and then they were back to play fighting once more.

"That didn't take much time, now did it?" Star purred.

"Nope," Luna laughed as she ran over to join in on the fight. She swiped at Rose's tail, then yowled with shock as Leaf crashed into her from behind.

"How did you do that?" Rose gasped, just as surprised as Luna.

Rolling away from his sisters, Leaf chuckled, meowing, "It's a little trick I made up. All by myself, too."

Star felt her heart swell up with happiness. Already, her young son was teaching himself fighting moves. He was so like his father, making up ways to survive. Leaf would be a truly excellent fighter when he got older; Star could already see it.

Luna pricked up her ears suddenly at the sound of something strange. She listened hard, straining to hear it again.

Her eyes flashed open as the noise came again. Without a word, Luna dashed off the porch and raced into the garden. She didn't stop until she came near the area where the sound had come from.

Pausing to listen again, Luna lifted her right ear straight up into the air. For a minute, there was nothing. But then, a thin wailing sliced the air with sharp claws. Luna only had to run a few paw steps before coming to the source of the sound.

A kit was laying there, its mouth opened wide towards the heavens in a soundless scream. Luna crept forward cautiously, unsure of what was wrong. And then she saw it.

The kitten's hind leg was bent at a sickening angle, almost backwards. Luna gulped and looked closer at its face. There was blood all over one side, and it took her a minute to figure out what was causing all of it.

When Luna realized what it was, she turned her head away with a wave of nausea. The kit's ear had been torn to ribbons. Pieces of it were hanging off, and the entire top half was missing.

Luna inhaled deeply, trying to get herself together. The kitten was no longer moving, or making any noise. There was a faint rise and fall of its chest, so Luna knew that the kit wasn't dead, yet.

Before she could figure out what to do, Star appeared next to her, out of breath.

"Luna, what's wrong?" she panted.

Luna flicked her tail to the still body of cat, unable to say anything. She didn't see Star's expression, but it was stony.

"Get me some leaves."

Luna nodded and, trying to forget the image of the kitten's ear, dashed off farther into the woods. It wasn't hard to find soft leaves. She gathered a mouthful of them and ran back to her mother.

She dropped the pile at her mother's feet, and stood a little bit away to watch.

Her mother took the leaves without a word and bunched a few of them together. Star wrapped them around the kit's ears, and pressed up against them. Soon, they were soaked with blood, and Star rolled fresh ones together to use instead.

Luna watched with eyes as round as the moon, trying to memorize everything her mother was doing. Even as a kitten, Luna knew that this could be useful later on.

After a while, the bleeding slowed greatly, until there was just a small trickle of blood running constantly down the kitten's head. Star glanced at the kitten's leg, and then turned to Luna.

"You're going to have to help me carry her out of here," she meowed to her daughter.

Luna nodded and stepped forward to help. Her mother gripped the kit's shoulders with gentle teeth after instructing Luna to grab her hind legs. Slowly, the three made their way out of the forest. When they arrived back at the Tallcreature's house, Leaf and Rose were waiting on the front porch, staring with wide eyes at the new kitten.

"Get out of the way," Star grunted under a mouthful of fur. The siblings scrambled out of the way, still open-mouthed.

"Who is she, Mama?" Rose asked carefully.

Star didn't reply. She gently set the kitten down on the wooden boards of the porch, and then bent over her to examine her leg. She closed her eyes and looked down, as though praying.

"Come on, you two," Leaf suddenly meowed. "Let's go inside." He began quickly ushering his sisters inside, but Luna glanced back before she was shoved inside the house. She had just enough time to see her mother grip the end of the kitten's leg and jerked her head to one side so that the leg was facing the right way again, but the bone made a sickening crack.

The Tallcreatures had never really paid much attention to the small of family of cats, so it wasn't a surprise that they didn't notice a fifth cat. Star kept her at one side of the bed that they all shared, so she had plenty of room.

The kitten still hadn't woken up, and it had been three whole days. Luna kept checking to make sure she was still breathing; she had never known that anyone could sleep that long. Star said that the leg was broken, so it was a good thing that the kit was sleeping, or she might have moved around and made it break again.

There was no way to save the kitten's ear; it was shredded beyond repair. Instead, Star let it heal the way it was. Leaf and Rose thought that it looked creepy, but Luna found it fascinating. She thought that the kit's ears made it different from everyone else, and sometimes, she wished that she had ears just like her.

Luna was relieved when the kitten woke up after four days. She was starting to get worried about her.

"MAMA!" Luna yowled when the kitten opened her eyes. "MAMA, SHE'S AWAKE!"

"There's really no need to shout," Star muttered crossly as she hurried over. They both watched as the kit looked around sleepily. Leaf and Rose were out in the garden, so they couldn't come and watch.

The kitten looked extremely confused when her eyes came to rest on Luna and Star.

"Good morning, little one," Star meowed, tipping her head to one side and blinking warmly. "My name is Star. ("And I'm Luna!" her daughter said proudly). How do you feel?"

The kitten blinked fuzzily, and then mumbled, "M- My leg hurts…"

"Alright, and how about your ear?" Star asked her.

"That hurts too…"

Star gave a small laugh at how sleepy the kitten was. _You would be too, if you sleepy for four days straight, _she reminded herself.

"What's your name?" Luna burst out before she could stop herself.

"M- My name?" The kit looked confused again. "Oh….right, my name's Moss…"

"Moss…" Luna repeated, feeling the word on her tongue. "Cool!"

"Where did you come from?" Luna asked her.

"I- I'm kind of tired…Is it okay if I go back to sleep?" Moss mumbled to Star.

"Of course," Star told her kindly. "Sleep for as long as you like."

The kitten settled back down in the bed, and in the next minute she was asleep once more. Luna walked away from her sleeping form with Star, then whispered excitedly, "Wow, Moss is such a cool name!" She looked away dreamily. "I wonder where she came from…."

Luna never did find out where Moss came from. She avoided the question whenever it came up, and she never said how she got injured, either. Luna and Moss became great friends almost as soon as Moss started feeling better. The pair were inseparable, just how Rose and Leaf never wanted to leave each other. Luna loved to prowl the gardens with Moss, playing games and chasing each other.

All four of the kittens were growing bigger and bigger each day. Leaf was now strong enough to take down Star, and this was certainly saying something. Luna wasn't too good at fighting herself, but Star told her that she had the makings of an amazing hunter. Rose whispered to her after that she was just saying that, but Luna was sure Star was being truthful.

Moss, however, was an excellent fighter. She could take on the other three kits and win single-handedly. Luna always wondered how she had gotten to be so good, but Moss never seemed to answer any of her questions that involved her past.

Luna was seven months old when she had the first dream. She'd had many dreams before, but this one was different.

_Luna dashed onto the front porch, followed closely by Moss and Rose. Leaf was sitting with Star on the steps, watching the sun rise. Luna led the way over to them. Star leaned forward and purred kindly. "Now, kits, you all know that you're getting older. You're all stronger and tougher than before," she meowed warmly. Leaf and Rose glanced at each other, remembering all the times Star had said that they were stronger before. But much to their surprise, Star went on this time. "It's time for you to leave this house. The humans are angry at us for being here, and now that you're all bigger, you take up more room. They won't be pleased if there are five full grown cats living with them," Star said sternly. Rose exchanged astonished looks with Moss. "What?" Rose cried. "I don't want to leave, Mama! Only if you come with us!" Star shook her head sadly. "I cannot. My place is here. Besides, you are all old enough to take care of yourselves now. All that's left for me to teach you is to hunt. Then you must leave me."_

Luna woke up with a start, breathing hard. She realized that it was a dream after a while, and then she lay back down, wondering what had woken her up. There was light streaming in through a window over her bed. She looked over to see that Moss was the only one who was still sleeping. Rose was crouched over, washing herself. Leaf and Star weren't there.

Rose looked up at Luna and, seeing that she was awake, meowed, "Star wants to talk to us outside."

Luna jumped to her paws, assuming that it was Rose who had woken her up. She bounced over to Moss and prodded her in the side.

"Come on," she hissed, poking her again. "Star wants to talk to us." Moss moaned and rolled over.

"I don't wanna…."

Luna kept poking her until Moss crawled out of bed. Then the three kittens left the bed, heading for the door. Feeling unusually happy, Luna dashed into the front porch, and was followed closely by Moss and Rose. Leaf was sitting with Star on the steps, watching the sun rise. Luna led the way over to them, feeling that this was all very familiar.

Star leaned forward and purred kindly. "Now kits, you all know that you're getting older. You're all stronger and tougher than before," she meowed warmly. Luna watched Leaf and Rose glance at each other. Luna tipped her head to one side. _This is a lot like my dream..._

"It's time for you to leave this house. The humans are angry at us for being here, and now that you're all bigger, you take up much more room," Star went on. Luna shook her head. Was she going crazy? Everything was exactly like her dream…_This is so weird…_

"They won't be happy if there are five full grown cats living with them," Star said sternly. Rose exchanged astonished looks with Moss.

"What?" she cried. "I don't want to leave, Mama! Only if you come with us!"

Star shook her head sadly. "I cannot. My place is here. Besides, you are all old enough to take care of yourselves now. All that's left for me to teach you is to hunt. Then you must leave me."

Luna shook her head with disbelief as she walked away from her littermates. How could she have a dream, and then have the dream play out in the real world? Maybe there was something wrong with her? Luna's eyes widened fearfully. _What's happening to me?_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Luna had a lot more dreams after that. They always played out exactly the same in the real world. Luna didn't tell Moss, or even Star; she was terrified they would think she was a freak. She kept them to herself, and sometimes, Luna was happy that she knew what was coming. It was fascinating to fall asleep wondering if she would dream about what would happen the next day.

Star began teaching the kittens how to hunt. On the day of their first lesson, she began by teaching them the special crouches they needed to use for different kinds of prey.

"Okay, so first, there's the crouch for hunting mice," Star meowed, looked down upon the four kits. They were crowded in a small clearing in the woods. Star didn't want any humans disturbing them.

She crouched down, and stalked forward, with practiced precision. The kittens watched with wide eyes, amazed at how good Star was at it.

"You have to remember to keep your steps light, and be as quiet as possible," Star reminded them, sitting back up. "Now you try it."

The four kittens immediately dropped into the same crouch that Star had used. Star purred as she watched them trip over their tails and land heavily on the forest floor.

"Keep your tails stretched out behind you, or else it will get in your way. Like this," Star added when Rose gave her a confused look. After she demonstrated, she looked over to see how well the others were doing.

"Great job, Luna!" she called, watching her. "You're keeping your paws very light."

Luna gave a little bounce of excitement at her mother's words. This was so _easy. _She'd had a dream about the lesson, so she knew what to do already. Luna giggled as she watched Leaf trip over his paws.

The dreams that Luna had made her feel important and smug. She was becoming better at everything that they did, because she usually knew what was going to happen before it happened.

Star's voice snapped her back into the present.

"Luna, help Leaf with his crouch. He needs to keep his paw steps lighter."

Happy to oblige, Luna went over to Leaf. She sat down and wrapped her tail over her paws, saying, "The trick is to keep all of your weight on your toes, so you step quieter."

Leaf turned away, curling his lip. "I can figure it out on my own, thanks."

Feeling slightly put out, Luna stepped away from her brother. "Fine, be a jerk. See if I care." She turned and stalked away, sniffing loudly.

Leaf let out a hiss of annoyance. _Luna's always sucking up to Mommy. Star never notices me anymore._

As if she could read his thoughts, Rose pressed close to her brother. Purring affectionately, she licked his ear with a warm tongue.

"It's okay. You were doing it better than I was."

Leaf felt his heart swell. Rose always knew how to cheer him up. He leaned against her, feeling better than he had for the past few days.

"Thanks, Rose," he purred.

A little ways away, Luna was sitting with Moss, watching her do the crouch.

"I think Leaf's mad at me," she whispered in her friend's ear. Moss continued to try the crouch without pausing.

"Maybe you did something to annoy him."

"Yeah, but what? I don't remember doing anything..." Luna's eyes filled with tears. "Maybe he hates me."

Moss sighed, trying not to be too annoyed with Luna herself. "Stop over reacting," she meowed, controlling herself. "Leaf gets mad easily all the time."

"But this time is different…" Luna trailed off, deep in thought. She tried to remember what she had done to make Leaf so snippy with her. She shook the thoughts from her mind. It was time to get back to work.

The next morning, Luna woke with a pain in her back. It was a strong, biting pain, and Luna almost yowled aloud when she stood up. Trying to stretch without hurting herself more, she wondered where the pain was coming from. Luna was sure she hadn't hurt it during yesterday's hunting lesson…maybe she'd lain on it in her sleep.

Luna was the only one up. She looked around at her sleeping littermates, and then quickly decided not to wake Moss. Her friend would be grumpy; they were all tired out from the hunting lessons.

Carefully, she picked her way through the sleeping cats. Still feeling the ache in her back, Luna padded outside, wanting to try catching a bird. They were hovering over the ground, trying to eat some worms. _That's right… _Luna thought absent mindedly. _It rained last night._

The ground was moist and a little bit muddy in places; Luna had to watch her step to avoid sticking a paw in a pile of gloop. Watching the birds carefully, Luna waited for one to land close by.

She didn't have to wait long. A bulky crow flew down just a few feet from where she was. Luna's eyes widened, with a malicious glint to them. _Mama would be so proud if I caught this…_

Luna took slow and careful steps forward. She dropped into the crouch they had been taught yesterday. They hadn't learned how to hunt a bird yet, so she was going to have to make do with the crouch used for mice.

The crow was oblivious to Luna's advances. It pecked lazily at the grass, most likely trying to suck up some dew. Luna wiggled her rump, preparing to spring-

And the crow spotted her. It took off with a shriek like a banshee, and Luna threw herself into the air without a moment's hesitation. She _was _going to catch this bird, even if it killed her.

She was seconds too late. The crow was airborne, and she dropped back down to the earth, disappointment slicing her heart open. _Stupid, stupid…I should have been faster…even Rose could have caught that one… _Luna snarled at herself. She was torn between being frustrated at herself and being thankful that no one had seen her miss.

_I would have been the first out of all of us to catch something…_ Luna was so busy telling herself off that she did not see the fox. It had been watching her for some time now, merely interested in what she was doing. It grew bored, however, now that she was just standing there furiously.

The fox got to its paws, hungry for the decent meal that awaited it. The kit would make a good breakfast, and it was easy prey for the lean fox.

It stalked forward silently, watching Luna with moon-shaped eyes. Once it was close enough, it sprang.

Luna faintly heard a rush of air before the fox collided with her. She let out a shriek of pain that raked the sky.

_This is it, this is the end. _She thought as she tried frantically to get away. _Oh, god, I'm going to die._

The fox's claws were long and unbelievably sharp. Luna let out a boiling scream as it slit open the skin on her back.

She felt her muscles freeze up with terror. The fox was just playing with her, and once it was done, it would kill her.

_I'm going to die…_

Star's eyes snapped open. Something was wrong. Luna was the only cat that was missing, and Star was sure that something had woken her.

She rolled over, and stood up. She had to find Luna. Star stepped carefully over the sleeping lumps of fur and quickly walked to the door. She stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. Star froze, fear suddenly gripping her bones.

_No, it can't be…there can't be a fox…not here._

Even though her mind was telling her it wasn't true, Star raced out onto the front porch. If there was a fox here, it wouldn't be good.

It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the bright light. But when they did, Star wished that she did not have to see the scene in front of her.

Luna, her little kitten, was lying on the ground, soaked in blood. A fox was standing over her, baring its teeth…getting ready for the killing bite…

Star leapt forward, reacting on instinct only. She would not let this stupid fox kill her baby Luna.

The fox was completely unprepared for Star's attack. It let out a yelp as her sharp claws gored into its side, and it staggered backward from the force of the collision.

Star let out a low hiss, and crouched before the ragged animal. She stood directly over her youngest kit, protecting it with her life.

The fox got to its paws unsteadily. It pulled back its lips to reveal yellow, thorn-sharp teeth. A growl rumbled from the fox's throat, deep and menacing.

Star shot towards it without a glimmer of fear. She lifted a paw, ready to strike-

The crack of a rifle shattered Star's eardrums, stopping her short. The fox howled with pain. It staggered clumsily back into the forest, yelping, it's leg spurting crimson blood.

Star spun around to see a human standing on the front porch with a shotgun in its hands. It stepped cautiously down the steps, and then raced off into the woods. A shorter human with longer hair carefully left the house after the first. It walked quickly over to Luna, who was slowly bleeding to death on the blood-soaked grass.

Star sprinted back to Luna, and put herself between the tiny kit and the human. She bared her teeth, growling, "Don't you dare touch her!"

But the human didn't seem to understand Star's threat. It gently picked Luna up with the greatest care, and then hurried into the driveway, heading for the car. Stunned, Star did nothing. What was the human _doing_? This was no time for a ride!

Yowling, she sped towards the car, which was roaring to life. "Wait! Don't take her away from me!"

The car made a sharp turn, and then screamed forwards into the road. It screeched away from the house, leaving Star in the dust.

"Come back!" Star sprinted after it, her paws hitting the gravel so hard that the pads were scraped. But the car was still gathering speed, and there was no way for Star to catch up. She slowed suddenly, the horrible realization hitting her full force. Luna was gone.


End file.
